The use of microchips is well known in printing applications. For example, ink-jet printheads commonly contain microchips, and these microchips are often referred to as dice (die for a single structure). Dice contain the integrated circuitry necessary to control the jetting of ink required for printing. They also generally contain slots that are used to effectuate the transfer of ink from the ink tank or storage unit to the emission or nozzle components, providing for the flow of ink during printing applications. In many cases, much of the dice is made primarily from silicon. This is common for the dice used in ink-jet printheads. One problem with silicon dice in the thermal ink-jet printing process is that contact with some basic inks results in dissolution of the silica and redeposition at undesirable locations within the ink-jet printhead. A second problem is that ink-jet cartridges contain many glass-filled parts which may also be attacked by high pH inks. These problems lead to reliability issues such as kogation, silicate ring formation, and silicate deposition on resistors with consequent fouling of the surface of the resistor element, all negatively impacting performance, e.g., reduced image quality and reliability.